Husband's 40th August bank holiday - potential destinations?

[Hollygogradient]

Wondering if anyone has any good suggestions for holiday destinations, preferably Europe for a long weekend/four days at the end of august to celebrate my husband's 40th. No real stipulations but would be nice to go somewhere that we wouldn't go with our two children as they will not be with us.

Would you prefer a city break with sight seeing or a more relaxing beach holiday near sea / pools?

City breaks: we loved Copenhagen and Rome
Pool / Beaches: south of France, Portugal

It depends on your likes and dislikes. Sun, sand, history, architecture, fly and flop etc.

Trips I did recently without any children on board were -

Rome and the nearby coast (fab)
Seville and Cordoba
Malaga and Granada
Bologna and Padua (half hour to Venice from Padua)
Nice and a day in Cannes
Carcassonne and barge trip to Narbonne

As you can see I can't go anywhere without adding another place on!

All were four or five days away.

Budapest is great for a short break but will be busy in august, Germany might be a good choice if you check school holidays, some areas are back in. If you fancy driving i do recommend the Loire valley, it’s a quick hop from the ferry to Caen or overnight ferry to st Malo, you need the car for the wine! Another not so far option if you are interested in sightseeing especially history is Normandy, but it also has amazing countryside, food, cider, take ferry to Caen for easiest access

@Hollygogradient How hot do you want it? Anywhere Med is hot! I’d consider Normandy and Ireland. Stockholm and Oslo too. You could go to Iceland and see some sights around Reykjavik. Lots of European cities are wonderful. Lesser known ones in The Netherlands might be appealing too and Eurostar helps. Venice will still be packed and boiling. Bordeaux and going into the wine areas would be good too.

Italy and Spain will still be very hot then - fine for a beach holiday but not so great for sightseeing. I agree northern France or Scandinavia if you want to do something more active. Iceland sounds like a fab idea.
Normandy is great if you like history and castles.

Stockholm is a really nice city for a short break!

Thank you for all of your great ideas, it is much appreciated!

I’ve been to Venice twice at that time of year. It was fabulous as you can ride out into the lagoon on the vaparettos to the islands. It’ll be the art biennale this year if that is of interest.

Poland is my new favourite place. You could fly to Gdansk, which is a beautiful city with some interesting museums. The coast is a short train ride away with a few spa towns such as Sopot and the Hel peninsula.

Should be nicely warm but not Mediterranean hot.